Izotz Lehoiak

Packs of Death

by Terry Cassis using Image AI

The Izotz Lehoiak or ice lion, is a wide ranging omniverous animal of massive proportions (up to 1800 lb, 6 foot tall) that lives in the Northern Wastes. Thought to be a magical hybrid resulting from the presence of common housecats that were kept by humans at the time of the Cataclysm and grizzly bears that were natives of the far northern reaches of the continent, the Izotz Lehoiak are known for their playful toying with their prey prior to a bloody dispatch of their meals.
Izotz Lehoiak stake claim to a territory which is gender specific. Females travel in packs with their cubs and exploit any food that comes into their environment include carcasses of long dead animals and humans that have been frozen throughout the icy reaches of the Northern Wastes.
Males are solitary, driven from the female pack by the matriarch at the age of three years old. From there they go to stake claim to a male territory from which they will garner the rights to breed with the females who enter their domain - for as long as they can defend and keep it from other males. Domains which have plentiful food supplies are highly desired and fought over by the males as these attract more females.

Surviving the Northern Wastes

During periods of extreme cold, females will locate sheltered areas, preferably caves, and dig burrows to shelter their young from the bitter cold winds that sweep the tundra. There they will hibernate until the weather turns or a fire leyline erupts nearby, thawing the region and bringing on a false summer.
Males have no such luxury. They must defend their territory or risk losing it to a more aggressive, typically younger male who catches them unprepared or in hibernation. Old dominant males have found a sweet spot between maintaining a proactive presence in their territory and escaping the strength-draining weather.

Traveler Beware

All Izotz Lehoiak will aggressively defend their territories. They are opportunistic omniverous feeders, although they clearly prefer live red meat creatures for food, probably because of the high nutrive value of animal protein and fats. Izotz Lehoiak are known for playing with their prey. They will capture and injure a creature, then negligently pretend to not pay attention or get bored, allowing the prey to escape before recapturing it and gnawing on it again. This will go on until the prey lays still during these periods of negligence and the Izotz Lehoiak, bored and hungry will finally kill and consume them.
Travelers in the Northern Wastes are advised to maintain a diligent watch and ensure there are sufficient members of their party awake at all times to mount an effective defense if faced with these monsters. While males are significantly larger than females, typically topping them by 1/3 or more in all size and mass characteristics and able to reach as high as 14 feet on their hind legs, they work alone. The biggest danger arises from packs of females where the females have multiple opportunities to put their long teeth and sharp claws to best effect and work coorperatively to bring down their prey.

Jewel

by FXQuadro

The water was icy cold, and Jewel was surly about having to hike the long distance from camp to the water's edge. Not that the hike was particularly difficult or taxing, it was simply annoying to be so far from a resource they would constantly need access to. She filled her small waterskin and tucked it back inside the warm furs Hamerber had provided to her when they left Sigurd's Craw. She started to work on filling the traveling skins. Downstream from her, the reindeer lapped at the water. The old man had tasted it then prodded it with his long spear and peered into it's depths before he declared it safe to drink and allowed them to get near the stream.
Jewel was careful to not get wet as she worked. The bitter cold rapidly formed ice on her hands. Luui, one of Hamerber's Izotza porters, had told her that fireley was the life of the Wastes. It ran below all the liquid streams and the areas where the scrubby vegetation grew. That seemed reasonable given how quickly her fingers became numb when exposed to the hostile winds. Any liquid water or plant growth in this bitter cold land had to be heated by something.
A shout from the old man spurred Jewel into instant action. She pulled her knife from it's scabbard, and scanned the water for any ripple of danger. Seeing none, she quickly turned away and pulled her quiver in front of her where she could access her bow and arrows. Her eyes moved constantly searching for danger, and what they found terrified her.
It was huge. As large at the shoulder as she was tall. A muscled, white furred behemoth with sharp teeth and massive paws that ended in sharp claws. Her knife was no defense against this monster. She needed distance - and her bow.
It had grabbed one of the reindeer downstream and was dragging it away from the water's edge, the monsters heavy jaws with their prominent sharp teeth were locked around the reindeer's ruff. Would Hamerber let the thing take the precious reindeer? He had drilled it into them over and over - their lives depended on their stores - and the reindeer were used to pull two of the heavy sleds. No reindeer, no food.
Quickly Jewel pulled her bow from the quiver, strung it and armed herself with several arrows. Hamerber was closing with his spear, and Orion had pulled out his cleavers in spite of the old man's admonishment to use no magic. He was approaching the - what was it - a lion, a bear? Well, at least his cleavers were not glowing. But using them would put him dangerously close to those viscious claws and sharp teeth. Unacceptable.
She smoothly drew back her bow, and rapidly sunk two bolts into the side of the beast. It roared in rage and dropped the reindeer, which scrambled to it's feet and tried to run away, injured, but clearly alive. The polar lion rushed at the old man, who held the spear out pushing at the creature and keeping it from getting too close. If she didn't get some more shots into the lion soon, then -
Oh damn, there he went.
Orion leapt fluidly from behind the huge white lion landing on his feet on the monster's broad back. It whirled and clawed at the small man, attempting to shake him off. Orion lost his balance and toppled off the far side where Jewel couldn't see him any longer. She bent her bow and placed two more shots in the lion's exposed side, drawing it's attention towards it's unprotected flank and away from her foolhardy mentor. She moved swiftly, repositioning herself for another volley hoping for a clear shot.
Then Hamerber was there with that spear of his, and he made good use of the opening she had given him. The crazy old man drove the spear down the open maw in front of him, facing down the sharp yellow fangs of the giant white lion. While the thing gurgled in it's own blood, Orion closed in on it.
Too close, Jewel thought, they were both too close, and she had no clear shot. Crazy idiots. Quick and practiced as a butcher, Orion sliced at the throat of the monster and it began to bleed through the thick fur that covered it. He sprang back as the giant wounded lion turned towards him.
Hamerber still clung to the end of the spear, and his legs spun wildly as the creature lifted him and turned. Orion shouted at him. "Let go!" he cried, "let it GO!"
"I'm trying you dingbat!" Hamerber yelled back, "my spear's stuck!"
"Let go of the spear!" Orion yelled.
The lion took the action away from the old man. Roaring he flung his bleeding head and neck around shaking the old man off and charging at him, the spear end now loose, dangling from his mouth. The old man barely scrambled out of the way, but snatched his spear, hauling it loose. Jewel took aim and sunk a well placed arrow into the meaty part of the ferocious beast's neck. They needed to drive this thing away.
But they had done enough. Wounded and surly, the giant white lion turned and lumbered away. Orion made to follow it, and Hamerber stopped him.
"Let it go you fool. We don't have enough people to kill it, but it won't come back. It needs to heal up or something else will find it and finish it off. Maybe another male or a pack of females. They're cannibals." He paused and lifted the remains of his spear, the point now residing inside the monster that had departed.
"Shame about my spear though," he said with a frown.

How Did we Get Here?

And Then What Happened?

Another Critter you Don't Want to Meet in the Northern Wastes